From 10 in the morning till 4 in the afternoon, join LMEC at the Culver Town Park for fun, hikes, birds, fishing, planting tips, building terrariums, and much, much more! See Belle the Bald Eagle, straight from the Indiana State Fair! OOHHH! Or learn how to look for bugs in Lake Maxinkuckee’s water – Yeck! Or learn about The Nature Conservancy project at Houghton Lake, right next door! How about learning to bird watch by listening! Or painting a rain barrel? Sound like fun? Join us on the Saturday before Mother’s Day to learn about nature, history, fishing, bird watching, painting, planting, and much more. All events are free to the public. Raffle tickets are too! Don’t miss the fun. – Belle the Bald Eagle and her handler Zane. – See Kim Hoover’s owls – even a snowy owl she is rehabilitating. – Learn to ‘call’ birds with Jon Chapman. – Kids can paint something on a rain barrel which you might win in a raffle. – Or you can buy one done decorated by Culver Community School or Culver Academy students – Learn from the folks at Moontree Studios how they are bringing back the Dawn Redwood trees to this area, a forest that almost died out many years ago – and you could win one to take home! – See the movie Everglades of the North and learn how the largest wetland was almost lost. – Fishing games and much more. Come join the fun! We will see you there!

Are you excited to receive your tax refund this year? Unfortunately, identity theft criminals are also looking forward to stealing your refund.

The Indiana Department of Revenue implemented increased security features this year to protect Hoosiers against identity theft and tax fraud. Within just the first month of tax season, the department has stopped more than $1.2 million in attempted tax fraud.

Identity theft is such a big problem during tax season because it’s when people gather all of their sensitive information into one place, making it easiest for criminals to steal information and tax refunds.

1. Don’t share your Social Security number (SSN) unless you have to. And never give it to a person when you did not make the initial contact.

2. Don’t leave your W-2s lying around. This gives visitors going in and out of your home access to them. Instead, keep your tax documents in a safe, locked box.

3. After you electronically file your tax return, save the file to a CD, USB drive, or external drive and then delete the return from your computer. Store the device in a safe, locked place. This ensures hackers can’t steal your information.

4. File your taxes electronically. It is significantly more secure than paper filing. Individual taxpayers may qualify to file their taxes online for free at www.freefile.dor.in.gov.

Be sure to pass along these tips to your friends and family to help protect their identities as well. For more information about identity protection, visit the Indiana Department of Revenue’s Stop ID Theft website at www.in.gov/dor/4794.htm.

Your Culver Chamber of Commerce board of directors have been working hard to have our online presence reflect the beautiful community and professional business environment we reside in. Thank you for being patient with us as we’ve migrated everything over to this new format. The goal of this new site is to keep you more informed, connected through social media and offer better visual appeal. We hope you are as proud of this new website as we are!

A couple things to note:

–Are you a Chamber member with an event coming up? Please email us the details and we’ll add it to the calendar and Events tab.

–Have a logo? Email us your logo and you could be listed as a Featured Member at the bottom of the home page.

–Do you have a blog and update your content often? We’d love to link up content.

–Do you have some amazing photos of Culver or one of our Chamber events? Please send them to us and we’ll add them to the Gallery.